Bernard Thébaud, Associate Scientific Director & Vice Chair, Research Management Committee, Stem Cell Network; Senior Scientist, Regenerative Medicine, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute & CHEO Research Institute, Neonatologist, Division of Neonatology, The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO; Professor of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa; University of Ottawa Partnership Research Chair in Regenerative Medicine

Dr. Bernard Thébaud is a clinician-scientist with a focus on the clinical translation of stem cell-based therapies for lung diseases. He is a senior scientist with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and a neonatologist with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, providing care to critically ill newborns. He is also a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Ottawa.

As Associate Scientific Director of the Stem Cell Network, Dr. Thébaud supports the Network in building its translational programs and activities. An active investigator and champion for SCN since 2007, Dr. Thébaud has supported SCN as a member of the Research Management Committee and as Chair of the 2018 Till and McCulloch Meetings. Additionally, he has volunteered his time to educate Parliamentarians and government officials about the invaluable role SCN plays within Canada’s life science ecosystem.

Dr. Thébaud obtained his MD at the University Louis Pasteur in France and trained in Pediatrics and Neonatology at the University Paris V, where he obtained his MSc and PhD, before completing a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Thébaud studies the mechanisms of lung development, injury and repair to design new treatments for incurable lung diseases. His focus is on answering clinically relevant questions for translation into real-life applications. Over the next five years, his goal is to bring safe and effective cell and gene therapies for lung diseases into the clinic to improve patient outcomes. Most recently, Dr. Thébaud has launched both a clinical cell therapy trial, focused on treating underdeveloped lungs of pre-mature infants, and a new biotech company, Inspire Biotherapeutics.

Dr. Thébaud has participated on numerous peer review committees and scientific advisory boards at the international, national and provincial level, including CIHR and NIH. Dr. Thébaud holds the University of Ottawa Partnership Research Chair in Regenerative Medicine. His research is funded by a CIHR Foundation Scheme grant, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Stem Cell Network and the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine.